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The Sims 4: Don’t Buy the Lin-Z Smart Speaker – it will break your game!

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Multiple Simmers are reporting that they’ve encountered a strange error in The Sims 4 since the latest update which prevents them from loading up lots and / or travelling to different lots. The message shown below will pop out after loading a certain lot kicking the player out to the World Menu and not allowing the player to load any type of lot:

Image via Crinrict

The Sims 4: Don’t Buy the Lin-Z Smart Speaker – it will break your game!

What’s the cause of this issue? As strange as it might be, the new Lin-Z Smart Speaker and the relationship you form with it is the root of the issue above. As reported by Crinrict, the issue starts showing up when your Sim visits a lot that had Lin-Z on and after you decide to move the Lin-Z Speaker to your Sim’s inventory or delete it altogether.

Unlike with the Talking Toilet Object from The Sims 4 City Living Expansion Pack with which you can form a relationship and get rid of it by deleting the object, you cannot get rid of the relationship with Lin-Z Smart Speaker even after deleting it which will cause big issues.

If you’ve already encountered the issue above then there isn’t a perfect solution. You’ll have to go back to the Main Menu and revert your Save Game to the point where you didn’t purchase the Lin-Z Smart Speaker. If you didn’t encounter the issue it’s highly recommended that you don’t purchase the Smart Speaker until The Sims Team releases a fix.

The Sims 4: Don’t Buy the Lin-Z Smart Speaker – it will break your game!

About the author

Jovan

Reticulating splines as a webmaster for Sims Community over the last 11 years. You can find me here writing articles and doing reports on your favorite life sim games, among other things!

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Elisa
Elisa
6 years ago

I’m having a similar problem: I can’t load the lot I was playing with literally yesterday, even though I haven’t bought the Speaker at all; at it won’t kick me back to World either; it just stops working on load screen and I have to forcibly shut down the game. I’ve tried loading a different family in the same save and it worked fine, until I tried to save, at which point the game simply crashed has anyone encountered a similar problem?

luna
luna
6 years ago
Reply to  Elisa

do you have mods?

lars
lars
6 years ago
Reply to  Elisa

you could proberbly or a broken save or a old mod that stopped after the new patch

Elisa
Elisa
6 years ago
Reply to  Elisa

Yeah, I do have mods; I have updated them, though, and I only have this issue with this specific household I even tried saving the family on the library and moving them to a new save, and they were fine there!

Adumb
Adumb
6 years ago

Oh i thought it was from a mod omg thankfully I didn’t buy it again when I reloaded akshsksjak

lars
lars
6 years ago

i did got that thing too but a clean unstall andd new install did the trick,i don`t have any problems and more and my old save and mods i put in save place are working fine

SadSimmer
SadSimmer
6 years ago

Damn, I made a new household just to play around with the new update and honestly got very invested, the problem is that one of the first things that I put in there house was a Lin-Z speaker. And I made the house before I made them. I can’t wait for the new bug fixing update.

bri
bri
6 years ago

I was having this issue, but fixed it by deleting the cache folder and another cache package file — I think it was loadingcache.package — can’t remember exactly. but it works fine now!

Maxi
Maxi
6 years ago

Wow it’s sad but true that every patch just breaks the game in some way. Kinda glad I haven’t had time to look at the new items yet.

Gingy
Gingy
6 years ago

And there goes the Sims household I had fun with got once.

Gingy
Gingy
6 years ago
Reply to  Gingy

Everytime I have fun with a house something goes wrong. I’m a household jumper.

Lynnbird
Lynnbird
6 years ago

I swear its like they cant release a patch without also breaking something. its like things arent even tested, or WE are the testers…smh

Namey
Namey
6 years ago
Reply to  Lynnbird

That’s not really fair.
The QA team (of, what? 30 people?) can’t be expected to come up with the same combination of interactions *millions* of players choose.

I mean, who would think of deleting the Lin-Z speaker, but only after forming a relationship with it?

Noel
Noel
6 years ago
Reply to  Namey

Almost every player at some point in their gameplay. Players usually want to renovate, change the interior and that means it’s very possible they’ll want to delete the Lin-Z speaker after they have used it and interacted with it. Surely, the devs should’ve playtested a little longer before including it in the holiday patch.

Rene
Rene
6 years ago
Reply to  Lynnbird

In a ideal world the patches wouldn’t break or cause issues. However, if an issue doesn’t arise in their testing it doesn’t make sense to expect them to somehow predict an issue. Even when it comes to bugs. If they’re unable to reproduce it when it’s reported that makes it much harder or nearly impossible for them to provide a fix. Some bugs don’t even affect other simmers because they’re uncommon or mod related. Since it’s not the first time this has occurred, game breaking type bugs, simmers should be proactive in saving backups (backups also in case your computer dies or needs major repair).

OMewthree
OMewthree
6 years ago

I hope they fix this soon. I haven’t been able to play with it yet.

Khnum21
Khnum21
6 years ago
Reply to  OMewthree

they did a patch yesterday to fix it I think. I am going to update mine now!

Lunoodle
Lunoodle
6 years ago

Patch your game; Sims has been updated to deal with this problem.

Sydney
Sydney
6 years ago

This post saved my life! I have been so excited to go and play with the smart speaker and I was going to purchase it but I have not been able to get on sims 4 ( a whole nother me problem ) so I am so happy that I saw this because my computer is not the best. So I have no idea how my computer would take it, so thank you!

Ben
Ben
6 years ago

I haven’t had that issue when I deleted my speaker. Wonder why?

Ben
Ben
6 years ago
Reply to  Ben

Nvm…just read the comments.

Sasquatch
Sasquatch
6 years ago

And, after they’ve patched it, you shouldn’t buy the Lin-Z because it adds nothing to your game regardless.

AnneX
AnneX
6 years ago

Apparently the issue is already fixed. https://sims4.crinrict.com/en/2018/12/error-1029285f331/
As Crinrict mentions in the above link:

[FIXED] Error 102:9285f331
Update Dec 21st, 2018

There has been a new patch today in which this bug has been fixed. Affected games should also be fixed.

Judi E Easleyhttps://
Judi E Easleyhttps://
6 years ago

Hey, I just added the Lin-Z speaker to my game the night before ladt and yesterday morning my game wouldnt even open. I cant get past the white screen that has the title with the plumbob. I did the repair and restart but that didnt fix it. Could it be the speaker?

Elisa
Elisa
4 years ago

I’m having a similar problem: I can’t load the lot I was playing with literally yesterday, even though I haven’t bought the Speaker at all; at it won’t kick me back to World either; it just stops working on load screen and I have to forcibly shut down the game. I’ve tried loading a different family in the same save and it worked fine, until I tried to save, at which point the game simply crashed has anyone encountered a similar problem?

luna
luna
4 years ago
Reply to  Elisa

do you have mods?

lars
lars
4 years ago
Reply to  Elisa

you could proberbly or a broken save or a old mod that stopped after the new patch

Elisa
Elisa
4 years ago
Reply to  Elisa

Yeah, I do have mods; I have updated them, though, and I only have this issue with this specific household I even tried saving the family on the library and moving them to a new save, and they were fine there!

OMewthree
OMewthree
4 years ago

I hope they fix this soon. I haven’t been able to play with it yet.

Khnum21
Khnum21
6 years ago
Reply to  OMewthree

they did a patch yesterday to fix it I think. I am going to update mine now!

lars
lars
4 years ago

i did got that thing too but a clean unstall andd new install did the trick,i don`t have any problems and more and my old save and mods i put in save place are working fine

Adumb
Adumb
4 years ago

Oh i thought it was from a mod omg thankfully I didn’t buy it again when I reloaded akshsksjak

Gingy
Gingy
4 years ago

And there goes the Sims household I had fun with got once.

Gingy
Gingy
4 years ago
Reply to  Gingy

Everytime I have fun with a house something goes wrong. I’m a household jumper.

Lunoodle
Lunoodle
4 years ago

Patch your game; Sims has been updated to deal with this problem.

Ben
Ben
4 years ago

I haven’t had that issue when I deleted my speaker. Wonder why?

Ben
Ben
4 years ago
Reply to  Ben

Nvm…just read the comments.

bri
bri
4 years ago

I was having this issue, but fixed it by deleting the cache folder and another cache package file — I think it was loadingcache.package — can’t remember exactly. but it works fine now!

Maxi
Maxi
4 years ago

Wow it’s sad but true that every patch just breaks the game in some way. Kinda glad I haven’t had time to look at the new items yet.

Sydney
Sydney
4 years ago

This post saved my life! I have been so excited to go and play with the smart speaker and I was going to purchase it but I have not been able to get on sims 4 ( a whole nother me problem ) so I am so happy that I saw this because my computer is not the best. So I have no idea how my computer would take it, so thank you!

SadSimmer
SadSimmer
4 years ago

Damn, I made a new household just to play around with the new update and honestly got very invested, the problem is that one of the first things that I put in there house was a Lin-Z speaker. And I made the house before I made them. I can’t wait for the new bug fixing update.

AnneX
AnneX
4 years ago

Apparently the issue is already fixed. https://sims4.crinrict.com/en/2018/12/error-1029285f331/
As Crinrict mentions in the above link:

[FIXED] Error 102:9285f331
Update Dec 21st, 2018

There has been a new patch today in which this bug has been fixed. Affected games should also be fixed.

Lynnbird
Lynnbird
4 years ago

I swear its like they cant release a patch without also breaking something. its like things arent even tested, or WE are the testers…smh

Namey
Namey
6 years ago
Reply to  Lynnbird

That’s not really fair.
The QA team (of, what? 30 people?) can’t be expected to come up with the same combination of interactions *millions* of players choose.

I mean, who would think of deleting the Lin-Z speaker, but only after forming a relationship with it?

Rene
Rene
4 years ago
Reply to  Lynnbird

In a ideal world the patches wouldn’t break or cause issues. However, if an issue doesn’t arise in their testing it doesn’t make sense to expect them to somehow predict an issue. Even when it comes to bugs. If they’re unable to reproduce it when it’s reported that makes it much harder or nearly impossible for them to provide a fix. Some bugs don’t even affect other simmers because they’re uncommon or mod related. Since it’s not the first time this has occurred, game breaking type bugs, simmers should be proactive in saving backups (backups also in case your computer dies or needs major repair).

Judi E Easleyhttps://
Judi E Easleyhttps://
4 years ago

Hey, I just added the Lin-Z speaker to my game the night before ladt and yesterday morning my game wouldnt even open. I cant get past the white screen that has the title with the plumbob. I did the repair and restart but that didnt fix it. Could it be the speaker?

Sasquatch
Sasquatch
4 years ago

And, after they’ve patched it, you shouldn’t buy the Lin-Z because it adds nothing to your game regardless.